Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Brian Farley at Home Theater of Long Island can go suck a duck. On Nov. 2, 2009, I bought a Linn amp and pre-amp combo from his store - Home Theater of Long Island - through eBay. I paid over $1,000 via PayPal that same day.

But weeks later, no gear! I sent a message, and for the next month went back and forth with Brian, the owner. On December 8 I called, and he was so smug:

"Oh, well, if I am not sending things out fast enough for you, then I will get right on it". Oooh, buddy, if I were standing next to you, you wouldn't say that!!!

He wouldn't even send the gear express mail, in spite of the fact that he hadn't sent the gear in a month. Jerk. He offered no consideration except a thin and off-the-cuff "I apologize".

Let it be known: Home Theater of Long Island won't go one inch to make their mistakes right. Bad business. You know it's true, Brian Farley of Home Theater of Long Island. Ass.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

I have always wanted a tube amplifier. Not a tube-based guitar amp, but a home hi-fi amplifier. Something like a McIntosh MC-250 or Dynaco ST70 (here is a link to a good ST-70 repair and sales shop), two of the most popular tube amps in U.S. Hi-Fi history. Nowadays, tube amps are still produced by niche hi-fi manufacturers. There are also a number of tube amp kits available today as well - from companies like Velleman,

Tube amplifiers have a reputation for being for "audiophiles-only", but I have a feeling that if more people ever saw a tube amp, let alone spoke to somebody who owns one, these beautiful, elegant, amplifiers would be far more popular.

So I decided to add one more person to the list of tube amp owners: me.

When I unwrapped my "new" ST-70, I was pleased to see all of the precious vacuum tubes still intact. When I finally turned it on all the way and hooked it up to a pair of 1960's vintage Klipsch Heresys (with refurbished drivers, of course), I was pleased. Very pleased. But I can't give my full report yet: I had to run off for the weekend before my new tubes warmed up.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The Bose 901. A legendary and controversial speaker, to say the least. First released in 1968, the 901 lives on today and looks outwardly very similar to the original design. Inside the newest 901's - according to Bose - are over 300 improvements over the original. But the central premise is the same as ever: in my experience the Bose 901 is the only Bose speaker to truly achieve the goals of the Company's much-touted reflected sound technology.

I bought a pair of 901 Series VI's just before Thanksgiving of 2009. The tops were scratched terribly, but otherwise they were pristine. When I set them up in my new listening room, they sounded terrible. Only when I took them over to my old apartment - the dreaded "reflection coffin" - did I discover what Bose has been talking about all this time. The 901 is in a class by itself - apart from the rest of the Bose line and certainly apart from the rest of the world's known speaker species. The 901 does earn Bose a spot among history's great speaker companies. Not because of the sound quality, per se, but because of the 901's unique quality of sound.

After two hours of fiddling, I found the sound of the 901's "acceptable". After half an hour of typing to the music, I awoke to something amazing happening in front of me. I was in the reflection coffin, but it sounded like I was outside at a huge music festival. I decided then and there: these speakers needed to be returned to their brand-new glory - or better.

And this time, I would take video of the process....

As I mentioned, the tops of my 901s were badly scratched. I had picked them up for $300, and decided to sand out the scratches, re-stain the cabinets, and replace the burlap grillecloth up front (somebody had spilled drinks - repeatedly - on both grilles). If the scratches proved too deep, I had two rolls of cherry wood veneer to cover the whole tops anew.

First up was to mask the grilles. At first, I left the front grilles on because I couldn't figure out how to get them off. But I did remove the back grilles, exposing the nest of 8 blue drivers that make the alleged "magic". Then I covered them with masking tape and plastic trash bag squares.

Here is a pic of the nest:

The fronts were masked in the same way, until I decided to replace the grillecloth as well and cut if off the grille itself.

Here is a pic of the front grille by itself:

Once I cut off the grillecloth, I could see staples in the grille. These staples, it turns out, are what holds the grille to the cabinet. Here is what the 901 looks like without the front grille:

Seems like a lot of speakers these days do a good job with just something like that, let alone the 8 rear-facing drivers, right? Hmm...

Removing the front grille allowed me to sand and stain all the way into the cabinet edge. Quality :)

Once we had them sanded, we stained with some "white oak" stain. The cabinets took on a rich, reddish color all the way around. Looks nice, but certainly different from the original color.

My friend helped me and we used his tools. We sanded the cabinets, and found that the scratches in the tops were too deep - they went through the veneer. So we had to sand them down and put on our new veneer.

The Bose 901. A legendary and controversial speaker, to say the least. First released in 1968, the 901 lives on today and looks outwardly very similar to the original design. Inside the newest 901's - according to Bose - are over 300 improvements over the original. But the central premise is the same as ever: in my experience the Bose 901 is the only Bose speaker to truly achieve the goals of the Company's much-touted reflected sound technology.

I bought a pair of 901 Series VI's just before Thanksgiving of 2009. The tops were scratched terribly, but otherwise they were pristine. When I set them up in my new listening room, they sounded terrible. Only when I took them over to my old apartment - the dreaded "reflection coffin" - did I discover what Bose has been talking about all this time. The 901 is in a class by itself - apart from the rest of the Bose line and certainly apart from the rest of the world's known speaker species. The 901 does earn Bose a spot among history's great speaker companies. Not because of the sound quality, per se, but because of the 901's unique quality of sound.

After two hours of fiddling, I found the sound of the 901's "acceptable". After half an hour of typing to the music, I awoke to something amazing happening in front of me. I was in the reflection coffin, but it sounded like I was outside at a huge music festival. I decided then and there: these speakers needed to be returned to their brand-new glory - or better.

And this time, I would take video of the process....

As I mentioned, the tops of my 901s were badly scratched. I had picked them up for $300, and decided to sand out the scratches, re-stain the cabinets, and replace the burlap grillecloth up front (somebody had spilled drinks - repeatedly - on both grilles). If the scratches proved too deep, I had two rolls of cherry wood veneer to cover the whole tops anew.

First up was to mask the grilles. At first, I left the front grilles on because I couldn't figure out how to get them off. But I did remove the back grilles, exposing the nest of 8 blue drivers that make the alleged "magic". Then I covered them with masking tape and plastic trash bag squares.

Here is a pic of the nest:

The fronts were masked in the same way, until I decided to replace the grillecloth as well and cut if off the grille itself.

Here is a pic of the front grille by itself:

Once I cut off the grillecloth, I could see staples in the grille. These staples, it turns out, are what holds the grille to the cabinet. Here is what the 901 looks like without the front grille:

Seems like a lot of speakers these days do a good job with just something like that, let alone the 8 rear-facing drivers, right? Hmm...

Removing the front grille allowed me to sand and stain all the way into the cabinet edge. Quality :)

Once we had them sanded, we stained with some "white oak" stain. The cabinets took on a rich, reddish color all the way around. Looks nice, but certainly different from the original color.

My friend helped me and we used his tools. We sanded the cabinets, and found that the scratches in the tops were too deep - they went through the veneer. So we had to sand them down and put on our new veneer.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

I came across my pair of Energy AS-180 sub-woofers in October of 2009. I bought them from a guy who was selling his whole system off. When I arrived he still had his Paradigm Studio Monitors (PSMs), an NAD 917 surround/preamp, and the pair of AS-180s. He sold it all to me for a song, and I definitely got a deal. But the guy wasn't totally honest: he told me he bought everything new at a store in 2005. But the PSMs are older than that, and I eventually discovered that the AS-180 was most likely made before 2000. As it turned out, the AS-180 may be one of my best finds to date.

When I bought the As-180s, I turned the the gain and LF-pass knobs as part of my due diligence. They made a loud crackling noise when I turned them. I have seen this problem occur eventually with every powered speaker set I've owned, and most that I've used. The culprit is corroded or dirty panoramic potentiometers (pan-pots). The only time I have ever tossed a pair of speakers was because of pots that eventually crackled all the time, not just when i turned them.

I was told by the seller that the knobs only made noise when turned. I didn't know anything about these subwoofers, but this guy's asking price for the whole lot was about what I'd pay for his PSMs alone, so I pulled the trigger and bought the lot.

I drove home with the 6-foot-tall PSMs sticking up in the air like passengers in my BMW 325i convertible (pictured right) - top down - one up front and one in the back, where my daughter usually sits. The 4.5-cubic-foot AS-180s were in the trunk, which was held closed with a twisted coat-hanger I found in the layer of junk lining the trunk floor. I had to chuckle when - with my daughter's booster seat, my leather coat, and my briefcase bounced from the trunk by the AS-180s, there was no room in my open-top 2-door for the NAD 917!

Unfortunately, when I got home and googled my new subs, nothing came up. All I found was a recent 2009 article that said Energy was known for making "decent, mid-market subwoofers sold in 'big box' stores", but that it had made a recent "admirable entry" into the high-end market. Bummer. The subs that nearly punctured my femoral artery with their floor spikes were looking like Wal Mart bricks.

At least I still had the Paradigm Studio Monitors. They were worth the money on their own. I set up the PSMs and the AS-180s in my home theater - bumping out a gorgeous pair main speakers and my trusty SW1 & Slave subwoofer set - and left to attend an afternoon alumni event.

When I returned home, the power was off at the house. Inside, my girlfriend and *our* four-year-old daughter were sitting on the couch, doing a puzzle together. My heart was warmed. But then both ladies lit up with frantic descriptions of loud, scary noises coming from the stereo. Crackling, really loud, coming from the subwoofers, they thought. When they tried to turn them off, the noise got louder and changed into a whine and crackling. Eventually, my girlfriend threw the circuit breaker.

I began to rue my eagerness earlier in the day to pounce on an offer I couldn't believe. My new subs were really starting to look like bricks. I had scored only a mediocre deal, and spent money that I really didn't have to get it.

Still, in the spirit of taking this whole speaker repair thing seriously, I was resolved to see this through to the end: to not toss the AS-180s like I did my last pair of pan-potted speakers. To find replacement pots, get out the soldering iron, fix them, and sell them. I figured their size alone could get me $50 each for them, no matter how Mickey Mouse they were.

I opened the back of the two AS-180s and found the pan-pots inside the offending knobs. Then I called Energy to try and order new ones. I was transferred out of Energy to a tech guy at Klipsch. He had never heard of the AS-180. He told me that Energy, now owned by Klipsch, has started to make some really high-end stuff. But until now, everything Energy made was outsourced to China and was of generally low quality and sound. I was pretty deflated.

But then I looked down a the back panel of one of the subs, which was sitting in my lap as we spoke. The panel said "made in Canada", not "made in China". I said to the Klipsch guy: "Well, these say 'made in Canada' - not China. What does that mean?"

Then I heard something that made me smile.

"Canada?!" he exclaimed. "Well, then, you have something interesting." He went on: "See, Energy was founded by some defectors from Paradigm up in Canada. They wanted to target the audiophile market for subwoofers, so they made a few thousand subs - I don't know the model numbers - by hand in a factory in Canada. But they couldn't get anybody to review their gear, and nobody bought it, so they sold the company to a private investment firm, which moved manufacturing to China and re-focused the company on the middle market.Supposedly, the pre-China Energy's are really well made, but I haven't seen or heard any of them. They're pretty rare because they only made a few thousand."

"I seeeeeeee..." I said. Looking down at the panel again, I saw the serial number: 0241. I was getting the jitters. With the phone squeezed between my ear and shoulder, I walk-ran into the living room and got the other back panel off the table. Serial number? 0242.

I was ready to get off the phone.

"So, you guys don't have the pots for these, and don't have an equivalent one that will work?" I asked.

"Nope"

"Okay, then. Thanks for the info - see ya!" I pressed *end*, and with one panel under my arm I jumped in my ride and sped off to U Do It Electronics in Natick, MA. Surely they would have the pots.

The store DID have the right pots, and that day I performed my first pan-pot replacement. In spite of my clearly not understanding how solder behaves near a circuit board, I succeeded in eliminating all crackling noises from my AS-180s. I now use them under my Paradigm Studio Monitors (as if the Paradigm's needed any more bass support :) - via the preamp-level ins/outs - and they are fabulous.

The construction rivals that of my CSW SW1 and Slave subs, and my McIntosh speakers, which is to say, excellent. Once dialed-in (I cut them off at 120 Hz and send everything else to the PSMs, and have the gain set at 20% of full), they make even bass with fast enough response to get the low part of a slap bass or B3 organ keying. they also transition seamlessly into the PSMs, and also with other speakers I've matched them with, including little guys like Bose 301s and Paradigm Monitor 3s.

You can probably find a pair cheap, given the fact that there's no info about them yet. Expect the AS-180 and its little brother, the AS-90, to become more popular and valuable once word gets out. I would like to find the AS-90, because I think subs are overpowered, and people should have 2-4 small subs instead of 1 big one.

Time will tell. If you find an AS-180 for less than $400 per cabinet, you're getting something that will blow any new $400 sub outta tha watah!! And oh yeah, the pan-pots are an easy fix ;-)-isaac

I came across my pair of Energy AS-180 sub-woofers in October of 2009. I bought them from a guy who was selling his whole system off. When I arrived he still had his Paradigm Studio Monitors (PSMs), an NAD 917 surround/preamp, and the pair of AS-180s. He sold it all to me for a song, and I definitely got a deal. But the guy wasn't totally honest: he told me he bought everything new at a store in 2005. But the PSMs are older than that, and I eventually discovered that the AS-180 was most likely made before 2000. As it turned out, the AS-180 may be one of my best finds to date.

When I bought the As-180s, I turned the the gain and LF-pass knobs as part of my due diligence. They made a loud crackling noise when I turned them. I have seen this problem occur eventually with every powered speaker set I've owned, and most that I've used. The culprit is corroded or dirty panoramic potentiometers (pan-pots). The only time I have ever tossed a pair of speakers was because of pots that eventually crackled all the time, not just when i turned them.

I was told by the seller that the knobs only made noise when turned. I didn't know anything about these subwoofers, but this guy's asking price for the whole lot was about what I'd pay for his PSMs alone, so I pulled the trigger and bought the lot.

I drove home with the 6-foot-tall PSMs sticking up in the air like passengers in my BMW 325i convertible (pictured right) - top down - one up front and one in the back, where my daughter usually sits. The 4.5-cubic-foot AS-180s were in the trunk, which was held closed with a twisted coat-hanger I found in the layer of junk lining the trunk floor. I had to chuckle when - with my daughter's booster seat, my leather coat, and my briefcase bounced from the trunk by the AS-180s, there was no room in my open-top 2-door for the NAD 917!

Unfortunately, when I got home and googled my new subs, nothing came up. All I found was a recent 2009 article that said Energy was known for making "decent, mid-market subwoofers sold in 'big box' stores", but that it had made a recent "admirable entry" into the high-end market. Bummer. The subs that nearly punctured my femoral artery with their floor spikes were looking like Wal Mart bricks.

At least I still had the Paradigm Studio Monitors. They were worth the money on their own. I set up the PSMs and the AS-180s in my home theater - bumping out a gorgeous pair main speakers and my trusty SW1 & Slave subwoofer set - and left to attend an afternoon alumni event.

When I returned home, the power was off at the house. Inside, my girlfriend and *our* four-year-old daughter were sitting on the couch, doing a puzzle together. My heart was warmed. But then both ladies lit up with frantic descriptions of loud, scary noises coming from the stereo. Crackling, really loud, coming from the subwoofers, they thought. When they tried to turn them off, the noise got louder and changed into a whine and crackling. Eventually, my girlfriend threw the circuit breaker.

I began to rue my eagerness earlier in the day to pounce on an offer I couldn't believe. My new subs were really starting to look like bricks. I had scored only a mediocre deal, and spent money that I really didn't have to get it.

Still, in the spirit of taking this whole speaker repair thing seriously, I was resolved to see this through to the end: to not toss the AS-180s like I did my last pair of pan-potted speakers. To find replacement pots, get out the soldering iron, fix them, and sell them. I figured their size alone could get me $50 each for them, no matter how Mickey Mouse they were.

I opened the back of the two AS-180s and found the pan-pots inside the offending knobs. Then I called Energy to try and order new ones. I was transferred out of Energy to a tech guy at Klipsch. He had never heard of the AS-180. He told me that Energy, now owned by Klipsch, has started to make some really high-end stuff. But until now, everything Energy made was outsourced to China and was of generally low quality and sound. I was pretty deflated.

But then I looked down a the back panel of one of the subs, which was sitting in my lap as we spoke. The panel said "made in Canada", not "made in China". I said to the Klipsch guy: "Well, these say 'made in Canada' - not China. What does that mean?"

Then I heard something that made me smile.

"Canada?!" he exclaimed. "Well, then, you have something interesting." He went on: "See, Energy was founded by some defectors from Paradigm up in Canada. They wanted to target the audiophile market for subwoofers, so they made a few thousand subs - I don't know the model numbers - by hand in a factory in Canada. But they couldn't get anybody to review their gear, and nobody bought it, so they sold the company to a private investment firm, which moved manufacturing to China and re-focused the company on the middle market.Supposedly, the pre-China Energy's are really well made, but I haven't seen or heard any of them. They're pretty rare because they only made a few thousand."

"I seeeeeeee..." I said. Looking down at the panel again, I saw the serial number: 0241. I was getting the jitters. With the phone squeezed between my ear and shoulder, I walk-ran into the living room and got the other back panel off the table. Serial number? 0242.

I was ready to get off the phone.

"So, you guys don't have the pots for these, and don't have an equivalent one that will work?" I asked.

"Nope"

"Okay, then. Thanks for the info - see ya!" I pressed *end*, and with one panel under my arm I jumped in my ride and sped off to U Do It Electronics in Natick, MA. Surely they would have the pots.

The store DID have the right pots, and that day I performed my first pan-pot replacement. In spite of my clearly not understanding how solder behaves near a circuit board, I succeeded in eliminating all crackling noises from my AS-180s. I now use them under my Paradigm Studio Monitors (as if the Paradigm's needed any more bass support :) - via the preamp-level ins/outs - and they are fabulous.

The construction rivals that of my CSW SW1 and Slave subs, and my McIntosh speakers, which is to say, excellent. Once dialed-in (I cut them off at 120 Hz and send everything else to the PSMs, and have the gain set at 20% of full), they make even bass with fast enough response to get the low part of a slap bass or B3 organ keying. they also transition seamlessly into the PSMs, and also with other speakers I've matched them with, including little guys like Bose 301s and Paradigm Monitor 3s.

You can probably find a pair cheap, given the fact that there's no info about them yet. Expect the AS-180 and its little brother, the AS-90, to become more popular and valuable once word gets out. I would like to find the AS-90, because I think subs are overpowered, and people should have 2-4 small subs instead of 1 big one.

Time will tell. If you find an AS-180 for less than $400 per cabinet, you're getting something that will blow any new $400 sub outta tha watah!! And oh yeah, the pan-pots are an easy fix ;-)-isaac

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Should anybody buy an all-in-one stereo or home theater system? Looking around at my friends and neighbors, it's clear many people have chosen the all-in-one route. That's really too bad. Because unless you care about simplicity more than sound, build quality, versatility, and long life, an all-in-one system is NOT for you.

The all-in-one stereo or home theater (HT) system is the embodiment of three market forces that have been active the stereo and HT industry for decades:In essence, there is an abundance of equipment in people's homes: the market is saturated. Manufacturers, who must sell new products every year, rely on technological advances to drive sales.

But a second market force makes this difficult for most stereo equipment: the technology behind a quality amplifier, pre-amp, receiver, or (to a lesser extent) speaker, hasn't changed in decades. With the exception of TV and media (LP, Tape, DAT, CD, Laserdisc, DVD, Data, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray), a stereo or HT from the 1980s is as good, and just as technologically advanced, as one from 2009.

Manufacturers have compensated for this with creative packaging, and even more creative cost-cutting. Margins on everything but the newest technology (today that means flat-screen TVs and Blu-Ray players) are razor thin; prices are highly competitive. In this kind of environment, some strange beasts have emerged. One of them is the all-in-one system.

Marketed as an easy way to set up a home theater and ensure all the parts are perfectly matched to each other, all-in-one systems appear to be an easy sell, and a boon to consumers. After all, the worst part about owning a home theater is the buying process. There is so much to know, and so little reliable information, it makes a lot of sense to buy an all-in-one system from a reputable manufacturer.

But what if I told you there are other reasons manufacturers love to sell all-in-one systems? Well, there are! Here are a few that may alarm you:

Crossovers, the circuits that split the sound signal into different frequency bands and send them to the tweeter, midrange, and woofer, are expensive. Manufacturers now use the bare minimum amount of metal in these circuits to save costs. All-in-one's allow many speakers to share a single crossover, rather than have one or more crossovers in each speaker. Since it's an all-in-one, the manufacturer can use the bare minimum quality crossover possible, and push it to the absolute limit. Any all-in-one is literally teetering on the edge of breakdown.

As I alluded to above, all-in-ones take away the problem of making sure all your components "match" each other. But the truth is, the difficulty of matching up a system of separate parts is played up in stores. Add in the confusing and occasionally misleading information you get in a store or online, and matching up your own system seems daunting. But when you buy an all-in-one, you're getting a system designed with the bare minimum possible quality, tuned to the bleeding edge to do what it does with as little cost as possible. Is that really what you want? Is that what "matched" should mean?

If you want to upgrade your all-in-one, you're going to need to make use of knowledge and skills way beyond what it takes to put together a system from separates. All-in-ones are not meant to be upgraded piece-by-piece. They're meant to be thrown away after ten years, when one of the technologies in the system (almost always the tape, CD, DAT, Laserdisc, or DVD) goes obsolete. how happy will you be when the next ultra-high-definition video/music media comes out in 2018, and the all-in-one you bought for $2499.00 at Tweeter in 2010 is packing Blu-Ray?

All-in-ones are also marketed as a less expensive way to get the same wattage as a separates system, but for less money. I won't go into why most of today's gear is overpowered - but suffice to say you are better off getting the quality, low-wattage separates than the higher-watt, lower-quality all-in-one. Once you're home, and out of the huge room at Best Buy, those speakers are going to fill your room, I promise! :) For a 20x20 foot room, you need no more than 40 watts per channel stereo, or for HT, 30 watts for each of the 5 surround channels, plus two or four 75-150 watt subwoofers. I am not kidding. If you want some extra flexibility, get an 80 watt-per-side stereo or 60-watt-per-channel home theater receiver. This can drive nearly any speakers with fewer than 10 drivers per speaker (most speakers have 2-3 drivers), and fill a 30x30 room (with 10-foot ceilings) with rich sound.

Does learning all of this change your perspective about who's interest is being served by the all-in-one? I don't want to give the impression that all-in-ones are a one-way street: like most hit products, they fulfill important needs of great value to customers, while delivering bigger margins to sellers. But I will make the claim that most people are made to feel more confused and apprehensive about making a final choice than they need be. And I'll also make the claim that no matter how many hours you spend studying and listening to brands, retailers, salespeople, home theater consultants, interior designers, for-profit magazines and websites, newspaper technology columnists, or anybody else who makes their livelihood on the sales of new electronic, you will remain as confused an misinformed as when you started.

You need to hear what real audio users, both amateur and professional, have to say. You won't find that on websites affiliated in any way with the industry. You WILL find candid talk about specific brands, best practice, and techniques on message boards and social networks. Try www.audiogon.com for audiophile forums, and Audio Review for consumer reviews (these tend to be glowing).

If you educate yourself for just a few hours by reading my Hi Fi University articles, you may find you understand l lot - and you may find the tools and the confidence to see the jargon, the obsessive focus on numbers of cones, speakers, or watts, and the unwillingness to compare new gear on the shelf to gear that's 10 years old for what it is: an entrenched framework for understanding what's important in a stereo or HT that is flat-out perverted.

Who knows, you may even feel confident enough to buy your gear in the secondary market! But for now: no more all-in-ones for you :)

Thanks for reading!

....And to all my all-in-one-owning friends: I'm talking about almost all all-in-ones. But not yours. Yours is sweet.

visit my website at http://www.wicked-hi-fi dot com for more info, links, and products for sale

Should anybody buy an all-in-one stereo or home theater system? Looking around at my friends and neighbors, it's clear many people have chosen the all-in-one route. That's really too bad. Because unless you care about simplicity more than sound, build quality, versatility, and long life, an all-in-one system is NOT for you.

The all-in-one stereo or home theater (HT) system is the embodiment of three market forces that have been active the stereo and HT industry for decades:In essence, there is an abundance of equipment in people's homes: the market is saturated. Manufacturers, who must sell new products every year, rely on technological advances to drive sales.

But a second market force makes this difficult for most stereo equipment: the technology behind a quality amplifier, pre-amp, receiver, or (to a lesser extent) speaker, hasn't changed in decades. With the exception of TV and media (LP, Tape, DAT, CD, Laserdisc, DVD, Data, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray), a stereo or HT from the 1980s is as good, and just as technologically advanced, as one from 2009.

Manufacturers have compensated for this with creative packaging, and even more creative cost-cutting. Margins on everything but the newest technology (today that means flat-screen TVs and Blu-Ray players) are razor thin; prices are highly competitive. In this kind of environment, some strange beasts have emerged. One of them is the all-in-one system.

Marketed as an easy way to set up a home theater and ensure all the parts are perfectly matched to each other, all-in-one systems appear to be an easy sell, and a boon to consumers. After all, the worst part about owning a home theater is the buying process. There is so much to know, and so little reliable information, it makes a lot of sense to buy an all-in-one system from a reputable manufacturer.

But what if I told you there are other reasons manufacturers love to sell all-in-one systems? Well, there are! Here are a few that may alarm you:

Crossovers, the circuits that split the sound signal into different frequency bands and send them to the tweeter, midrange, and woofer, are expensive. Manufacturers now use the bare minimum amount of metal in these circuits to save costs. All-in-one's allow many speakers to share a single crossover, rather than have one or more crossovers in each speaker. Since it's an all-in-one, the manufacturer can use the bare minimum quality crossover possible, and push it to the absolute limit. Any all-in-one is literally teetering on the edge of breakdown.

As I alluded to above, all-in-ones take away the problem of making sure all your components "match" each other. But the truth is, the difficulty of matching up a system of separate parts is played up in stores. Add in the confusing and occasionally misleading information you get in a store or online, and matching up your own system seems daunting. But when you buy an all-in-one, you're getting a system designed with the bare minimum possible quality, tuned to the bleeding edge to do what it does with as little cost as possible. Is that really what you want? Is that what "matched" should mean?

If you want to upgrade your all-in-one, you're going to need to make use of knowledge and skills way beyond what it takes to put together a system from separates. All-in-ones are not meant to be upgraded piece-by-piece. They're meant to be thrown away after ten years, when one of the technologies in the system (almost always the tape, CD, DAT, Laserdisc, or DVD) goes obsolete. how happy will you be when the next ultra-high-definition video/music media comes out in 2018, and the all-in-one you bought for $2499.00 at Tweeter in 2010 is packing Blu-Ray?

All-in-ones are also marketed as a less expensive way to get the same wattage as a separates system, but for less money. I won't go into why most of today's gear is overpowered - but suffice to say you are better off getting the quality, low-wattage separates than the higher-watt, lower-quality all-in-one. Once you're home, and out of the huge room at Best Buy, those speakers are going to fill your room, I promise! :) For a 20x20 foot room, you need no more than 40 watts per channel stereo, or for HT, 30 watts for each of the 5 surround channels, plus two or four 75-150 watt subwoofers. I am not kidding. If you want some extra flexibility, get an 80 watt-per-side stereo or 60-watt-per-channel home theater receiver. This can drive nearly any speakers with fewer than 10 drivers per speaker (most speakers have 2-3 drivers), and fill a 30x30 room (with 10-foot ceilings) with rich sound.

Does learning all of this change your perspective about who's interest is being served by the all-in-one? I don't want to give the impression that all-in-ones are a one-way street: like most hit products, they fulfill important needs of great value to customers, while delivering bigger margins to sellers. But I will make the claim that most people are made to feel more confused and apprehensive about making a final choice than they need be. And I'll also make the claim that no matter how many hours you spend studying and listening to brands, retailers, salespeople, home theater consultants, interior designers, for-profit magazines and websites, newspaper technology columnists, or anybody else who makes their livelihood on the sales of new electronic, you will remain as confused an misinformed as when you started.

You need to hear what real audio users, both amateur and professional, have to say. You won't find that on websites affiliated in any way with the industry. You WILL find candid talk about specific brands, best practice, and techniques on message boards and social networks. Try www.audiogon.com for audiophile forums, and Audio Review for consumer reviews (these tend to be glowing).

If you educate yourself for just a few hours by reading my Hi Fi University articles, you may find you understand l lot - and you may find the tools and the confidence to see the jargon, the obsessive focus on numbers of cones, speakers, or watts, and the unwillingness to compare new gear on the shelf to gear that's 10 years old for what it is: an entrenched framework for understanding what's important in a stereo or HT that is flat-out perverted.

Who knows, you may even feel confident enough to buy your gear in the secondary market! But for now: no more all-in-ones for you :)

Thanks for reading!

....And to all my all-in-one-owning friends: I'm talking about almost all all-in-ones. But not yours. Yours is sweet.

visit my website at http://www.wicked-hi-fi dot com for more info, links, and products for sale

Welcome to the Wicked Hi-Fi Blog! Wicked Hi-Fi is born of my love for vintage stereo and home theater (HT) electronics. I recently decided, after several months of exploring the secondary market for stereo and HT gear, to turn my old apartment (which is commercially zoned, strangely) into an invitation-only vintage stereo and HT store.

I am almost finished cleaning up the place, and I have set up a nice vintage Onkyo TX-840 receiver, an Adcom speaker switcher, CD/DVD player, and three icons of the vintage loudspeaker canon: Bose 901 (Series VI), Klipsch Heresy (Series 1, refurbished), and Bang&Olufsen Redline RL 60.2. They all sound great! This is the first time I have gotten the 901's to sound any good, and I would be happy to help anybody having trouble getting the best out of these speakers.

Put this blog in your RSS feed or favorites, and come back often for updates on inventory, invitations to our launch party (sometime this December, 2009), and my thoughts and ruminations on the hi-fi market. If you don't know much about stereos or HT, and you are in the market, look around here, on the Wicked Hi-Fi website, and my "Hi-Fi University" articles that give you the straight dope on whats good and what's not. If you know a bit about this stuff, you may find my point of view intriguing, annoying, or eye-opening. Either way, take a look around. there's a lot to see and read here. And of course, at my new invitation-only store, there's a lot to listen to!

Welcome to the Wicked Hi-Fi Blog! Wicked Hi-Fi is born of my love for vintage stereo and home theater (HT) electronics. I recently decided, after several months of exploring the secondary market for stereo and HT gear, to turn my old apartment (which is commercially zoned, strangely) into an invitation-only vintage stereo and HT store.

I am almost finished cleaning up the place, and I have set up a nice vintage Onkyo TX-840 receiver, an Adcom speaker switcher, CD/DVD player, and three icons of the vintage loudspeaker canon: Bose 901 (Series VI), Klipsch Heresy (Series 1, refurbished), and Bang&Olufsen Redline RL 60.2. They all sound great! This is the first time I have gotten the 901's to sound any good, and I would be happy to help anybody having trouble getting the best out of these speakers.

Put this blog in your RSS feed or favorites, and come back often for updates on inventory, invitations to our launch party (sometime this December, 2009), and my thoughts and ruminations on the hi-fi market. If you don't know much about stereos or HT, and you are in the market, look around here, on the Wicked Hi-Fi website, and my "Hi-Fi University" articles that give you the straight dope on whats good and what's not. If you know a bit about this stuff, you may find my point of view intriguing, annoying, or eye-opening. Either way, take a look around. there's a lot to see and read here. And of course, at my new invitation-only store, there's a lot to listen to!